As you’ve probably read by now, Pittsburgh Steelers wide receiver Chase Claypool recently declared himself one of the best in football—which, by the way, is perfectly fine. If you’re a wide receiver and you don’t think you’re one of the best, then you’re surely far from it.
While pretty much everybody acknowledges that he did not take the sort of step forward in year two in 2021 that he should have, there is also a prevailing notion, which I believe to be wrong, that he actually took a significant step backward.
Minus scoring, which is obviously very important, but which can also be highly variable, his numbers were very similar to his rookie season, and the eye test did not show a different player.